Tuesday February 25, 2020


The blog was a little light last night as the sap  was a little heavy.  We really did not expect that much sap yesterday. 500 gallons was held over until today for boiling. Brad got started a little early today to address that, but not early enough! 

A temperature differential was expected today with rain changing to snow in the middle of the night, that started to happen already about 4 pm. Big fluffy wet snowflakes fell all evening,..... none of it sticking, but enough to leave you more than damp. 


It was hard to get a picture to share, but Katie's clothes were so wet that when she stood by the evaporator she literally "let off a little steam". As you can see there are assorted layers of wet outerwear hanging to dry in the background. 















Evan, Katie, Adam, Melissa, Curtis, Brad , Bob, Michael and Muff gathered tonight. They returned to the camp appearing wet and tired. There was a respectable run of 270 gallons. The sap is clear and sweet...the sample bottles remain very light in color with little change since we began (the syrup will darken in color and change in flavor as the season progresses). 

The most intelligent conversation of the evening seemed to focus around the difference between Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday..if there is a difference. So if you were absent tonight, you did not miss much intellectual stimulation. We celebrated super fat Tuesday with Paczki's thanks to Adam and Monster cookies thanks to Melissa. Adam and Katie grilled leftovers out back tonight. 

Most of the action tonight focused on issues with the firepit. Bob was pouring syrup off in the corner and noted a roar in the chimney  behind him. There were orange flames out the stack a couple of feet. He blocked the air intake at the base of the chimney and pulled open the fire box doors to let some heat out for a bit. 

There were some large "clinkers" in the grate that Bob thought might be large enough to be blocking the air flow. So those were removed and "wheelbarreled" outside. Bob is seen here blocking the air flow with a glove. 

 

 The flu pans had to be cleaned out in the middle of the boil tonight, this happened about 9:15pm and really slowed things down..Brad was back from school to help. 

Kelsey arrived later from work and enjoyed the leftover dinner. She pointed out that we have had a rough year ...we perhaps should be keeping track of a daily "burn" count...burns today...burns to date. Bob's left hand got a little singed tonight in the above clinker removal escapade. Adam had a major blow out in his good heat resistant gloves and did a little hand shaking maneuver. (The gang teased him that he would have to ask for a clothing allowance as he also ripped his shirt tonight on firewood.)  Back to the burns...Kelsey had the winner thus far picking up a hot pan off of the blackstone last week  and Bob is sporting a blistered thumb...can't recall when or how that occurred. Brad has burns on both wrists from the steam. Despite working with a fire this hot...nobody can recall past issues with this..we are on a role this year! 

Sap Today: 270 plus 20 gallons
Sap To Date: 3,598 gallons
Syrup Off Today: 10 gallons as of 9:40 pm
Syrup Off To Date: 67.5 gallons



Heading home to my warm bed!